As a teenager Edgar Winter began playing the blues and R&B with his older brother Johnny back in the mid-'60s. This culminated with an appearance at the Woodstock Festival in 1969 where he performed on a couple of tracks during Johnny's scorching set.
Edgar got his own record deal in 1970, and promptly released the first of many great albums, Entrance, that same year.1971 saw the birth of his powerhouse R&B band, Edgar Winter's White Trash, which spawned an album of the same name, and a double-live LP, Roadwork, the following year. The band would feature a young Rick Derringer on guitar, as well as some guest guitar wizardry from his brother Johnny.
In 1972, Winter hit the jackpot with his third studio album, They Only Come Out At Night. The album made it to #3 on the Billboard Albums chart, and spawned two of his biggest hits, "Frankenstein," and "Free Ride," which made it to #1 and #14 on the pop singles chart. Winter has continued to record and perform quite steadily, releasing a few excellent albums in the 90's, and touring with Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band in 2006 and 2008.
In 2004, Winter co-headlined a 31-show, UK tour, with legendary Ten Years After guitarist Alvin Lee. The tour culminated with a show at London's Royal Albert Hall on May 27th, 2004, which is the subject of this excellent new concert DVD, Reach For It.
The setlist is a short one, with only nine songs, lasting just over an hour, but you get a good cross section of his classics, as well as a few new songs. Winter was promoting his latest album at the time, 1999's Winter Blues, which provides three songs to the set.
Winter opens the set with a couple of White Trash staples, "Keep Playin' That Rock 'N' Roll," and "Turn On Your Love Light," but unfortunately they fall a little flat without the backing of a horn section. They were good, just not White Trash good. Winter should really tour with a small horn section as most of his best stuff features horns.
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